Deep Dive: It's Still All About Karl-Anthony Towns
A new season is almost upon us, but it'll be an old stalwart who holds the key to Minnesota's upcoming campaign.
It’s still all about Karl-Anthony Towns.
Dipping a toe into the waters of Minnesota Timberwolves confidence is accompanied by an understandable trepidation for anybody who has followed the team for any period over their downtrodden history. Yet, it truly feels like the puzzle pieces are as close to being in place as they have been for many a frustrating year.
Anthony Edwards has solidified himself as the snarling top dog that any successful team needs. Jaden McDaniels is his youthful running mate who feels like he was fabricated in a lab to provide the yin to Edwards’ yang. Mike Conley makes too much sense as a sage on-court leader. The Rudy Gobert experiment has had a year of tinkering, adjusting, film, and fermentation. The bench runs as deep as it ever has. They’ve got back-to-back playoff appearances in which to build upon.
And, yet, it’s still all about Karl-Anthony Towns.
Everything that is to come will drift through the big man’s cosmos. Whatever fate the Timberwolves are hurtling toward will be decided by the many ways Towns can impact the environment he has been germinating in for eight years. If this thing is to work, it’ll be him that makes it work.
Not because he’s the face of the franchise anymore. He’s no longer the burgeoning star who has the red carpet of superstardom laid out before him. Those days have come, fizzled, and expired. Edwards is now the pillar in which the franchise perches atop and it doesn’t take a genius to notice how much more robust that bedrock feels. But winning seasons, especially in Minnesota, aren’t carried by a sole star.
Even with Edwards standing at the front of the army, it’s still all about Karl-Anthony Towns.
Because we know what we’re going to get from Edwards. We know that his ascension is undeniable. We know what he is going to do on a night-to-night basis and how he is going to do it. We know that his best is the kind of best that unearths wins from crevices that have often seemed impossible to explore for this forlorn franchise. We know that his game stands up on playoff stages and against teams intent on containing him in any way possible.
In the same way, we know what McDaniels brings. We dream merrily about it becoming something more, but we know what it is right now and we adore every morsel of it. We know what Conley brings, he’s been bringing it for nearly two decades and Father Time hasn’t quite wrangled him yet. Maligned as he is, we know what Gobert does.
In last season’s trade deadline and this summer’s offseason, the Timberwolves’ higher-ups replaced wildcards like Jaylen Nowell, Austin Rivers and Jordan McLaughlin with steadier role players like Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Shake Milton and Troy Brown Jr. Even without seeing them, we have a better grasp on what they do.
Towns as an entity has always been mired in volatility. It’s what has kept him from touching that upper echelon he was once penciled in to touch. This season it’s not just the on-court theatrics and playoff crumblings that swirl around him, it’s the winds of change that are whistling through every part of his Wolves existence. While the rest of his squad feels settled into their rightful places, Towns will be the pawn that the Timberwolves need to shift around their board.
That means Towns will need to embrace being Edwards’ sidekick. He will need to embrace being the power forward among the starters. Scratch that, he will need to thrive as a sidekick and a power forward. He will need to thrive as the malleable glue that holds together his sturdier teammates. He will need to thrive as a pawn. Sometimes a pawn is enough to change the whole game, and the best teams understand the importance of them.
None of this will be easy for Towns. Without doubt, his role within this team, system, and structure is the most taxing. At times, he will have to be contented with being a decoy. A pawn used solely to lure an opposing piece away from its position, creating a weakness in the opponent's position that can be exploited. At others, he will have to be the knight that smashes through the board.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Howls and Growls to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.